 |
70 Killed in El Salvador Earthquake
Some 70 people were killed and 200 injured in a strong earthquake in El Salvador Tuesday.
Numerous houses collapsed and many people were buried under the debris in Salvadoran cities of San Miguel de Tepezones and San Agustin, according to reports reaching here form El Salvador's capital, San Salvador.
The quake, measuring 6.4 degree on the Richter scale, occurred at 14:23 GMT and lasted about 30 seconds. The local authorities said that its epicenter was about 90 kilometers south of San Salvador in the Pacific Ocean.
Tuesday's quake took place exactly one month after January 13's devastating earthquake, which left over 800 dead and thousands of buildings destroyed in the Central American country.
The rescue work was going on by the time this dispatch was filed. The toll is expected to grow as new bodies are found from under the debris.
Thousands of people went out to the streets Tuesday in various cities in El Salvador for fear of more building collapses. The quake was felt in Honduras and Guatemala, where buildings were shaken.
On January 13, 827 people were killed in a quake measuring 7.6 degree on the Richter scale in El Salvador, 1.2 million people were affected and 200 buildings destroyed. The property loss was estimated at 1 billion US dollars.
In This Section
|